Method of furnace charging and smelting



I J. LABAHTHE. METHOD OF FURNACE CHARGING AND SMELTINu.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-15,1919- 1,376,947. Patented y 3, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET I.

WITNESSES: I INVENTOR.

ff'gw/ I y dad/m A TTORNEYS J. LABARTHE.

METHOD OF FURNACE CHARGING AND SMELTING.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT.16,1919.

Patented May 3, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

.INVENTOR. w! Kama/it BY CSJL JJ M j ATTORNEYS WITNESSES:

J. LABARTHE.

METHOD OF FURNACE CHARGING AND SMELTING. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 16, 1919.

1,3?6, 947 Patented May 3, 1921.

5 SHEETS--SHEET 3- IIIE WITNESSES: I INVENTOR. M Kiln/#4 ffzo/ "Byjrwfwy A TTORNE Y5 APPLICATION FILED SEPT; I6, I919.

Patented May 3, 1921.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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I 24 (AM/1f BYJJW J1: h llua Arranms MMSSES terious effects tothe furnace than heretofore,-

gmrao stares PATENT OFFICE.

ZI'U'LES LABARTHE, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

METHOD OF FURNACE CHARGING AND SMELTING. I

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 3, 1921.

Application filed September 16, 1919. serial No. 324,192.

naces, such as those ordinarily used in the reduction of silver or lead ores, so that the subsequent smelting in the said furnace will take place with more regularity and consequently with more perfect results, in a shorter space of time and with less consumption' of fuel and power, and with less deleand with great economy of labor.

The charging of such furnaces is ordinarily accomplished by dumping from the top or side into the furnace a mixture of ore, fuel, flux, and such ingredients as will under the heat treatment cause chemical and physical changes necessary to bring about the separation and reduction of metals. In the process leading up to the smeltin in the furnace the ore is ordinarily delivere at the smelter in freight cars and there dumped into bins. The material for fluxing and the fuel are also ordinarily delivered and stored in other bins. It is customary to arrange these bins adjacent to each other under the railroad tracks on which freight cars are transferred for delivering to the series of bins the several materials to be mixed for treatment in the furnace. From these bins it is customary to withdraw predetermined quantities of the several materials which are to form the charge and to mix them manually, or by dumping over gratings into the top of the smelting furnace.

It is not possible to secure aperfectly even rate of reduction throughout any horizontal section of the said furnace; with the result that the charge is reduced more rapidly in some parts of the furnace than in others, which may be due to the difference in the draft resistance, de ree of fineness or packing of the material, lnequality of the mixture and other factors. The inequality in the rate of reduction will also vary from time to time in any given furnace, it is therefore advisable, to secure equality in the reduction process, that the charge be differently made up and differently distributed from time to time while the reduction is proceeding, and my invention consists of providing means and the method by which such equalization may be most efficiently accomplished.

Th1s I attain by providing a special twocompartment car, proportioned so that the two compartments may be loaded with equal or different quantities of material from a storage bin and the car may then be transferred as a unit to other storage bins, and the compartments receive equal, 0r different measured quantities of other materials, until the two adjacent compartments are filled with equal or different mixtures of equal or different, but of predetermined constltuency. These two compartment charges may then be transferred to the furnace and the two compartments separately dumped both as to time, position, and mixture. In

this way a perfect control of the reduction,

as 1t proceeds in the furnace is readily attainable by the operator utilizing my invention. By referring to the accompanying draW-. ings my lnvention will be made clear.

Flgure 1 is a side elevation showing the ore and other material bins and weighing hoppers, with one of my charge cars in posit1on to receive the material.

Fig. 2 is a cross section on the line A,A of Fig. 1. i

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing my charge car transferred to one of its positions for dumplng into the reduction furnace, and

with a second dotted position of the charge car for dumping the second compartment intoanother location 111 the furnace.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line BB of Fig. 3.

Fig; 5 is. a side view of one of my cars, the right hand half of the figure being shown in longitudinal section.

Fig. 6 is a cross section through one of the compartments of my cars showing the dumping means.

Throughout the figures similar numerals refer to the same parts:

The numeral 1 indicates a storage bin containing, for example, ore. I

2 is a bin containing, for example, coke.

3 is a bin containing, for example, fiuxing material. 1

. 4, 4 are the tracks upon which freight cars are brought over and discharged into the bins. The bins are proportioned so that the entire charge of the freight car is dumped at one time without the necessity of transferring it during th dumping.

Referring particularly material stored in bin 1. 1

6 is a gate preferably of the arc type controlling the .material from chute 7, and which material is fed therethrough into the weighing hopper 8, suspended by the scales 14.

Mounted under the series of weighing hoppers 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 are the car tracks 15 on which my charge car travels. These tracks extend over the top 16 of the furnace, or furnaces 17. The combustion takes place in these furnaces by the forced draft entering from the twyers 18, 18, 1nduced preferably by forced pressure from the pipes 19, 19. An imaginary furnace charge line is shown at 20, indicating clearly at 21, 31, the unequal reduction takin place in the furnace; indicating a prepon erance of feeding and a change of the mixture when again charging. 22, 22 are fiues for the escape of furnace-gases.

The charge car is shown at 23, having two compartments 24, 25, adjacent to each other and dimensioned so that material falling from the scale hoppers 8, 9, will fall Within the said compartments 24, 25, forming in layers in the said compartments. 26, 27, indicate respectively the dumping apparatus which is independent for each of the two compartments. In the form of charge car to Fig. 2, 5 is the here illustrated the bottom is composed of two hinged plates 32, 33, and hinged at 34 and 35 respectively, and said plates are retained in closed position by chains 38, 39, and which pass over the pulleys 36 and 37 the latter mounted on the shaft. This shaft also carries the ratchet wheel 40 adapted to engage the pawl 41; also loosely mounted on the said shaft is the lever 42, carrying the pawl 43 by which the ratchet40 may be rotated and bottom plates lifted back into closed positionafter dumping. The loading from the scale hoppers takes place through the operation of the levers as 28. The compartments of the car are spaced with reference to the spacing of the scale hoppers,

which latter are spaced with reference to the charge 5 in the bin 1, the width of which bin depends upon the standard freight cars from which it is loaded on the tracks 4, 4.

The furnace top 16 I prefer to make with a sliding platesuch that when material is being dumped from the charge car into the furnace, the slide 16 is shifted. After the additional charge is madethe plate 16 is again slid into place covering the furnace.

The operation is as follows:

Assume the distribution of the reducing charge in the furnace to have a surface level substantially as shown by the line 20 in Fig. 3, the operator observing the disproportionate rate of reduction as at 21, 31 must, to make his process continuous and efiicient, maintain equalization of the surface 20 within the furnace. He must therefore add; a preponderance of material within the space 21, also it is advisable to vary the fuel content, or a variation in the mixture at'this' point which will tend to again bring about an equalization in the rate of reduction, and subsequently a disappearance of the deprestained by the weighing hoppers in which the weigher in charge of the scales 14 has previously arranged charges as ordered by the operator. The car operator therefore places his charge car in the position as shown in Fig. 1, taking the requisite quantity of material from bln 1, through the scale hopper 8 for the charge car compartment 24, and the requisite quantity for the compartment 25 from the scale hopper 9 of bin number 1, thus providing layers of different thickness, and in fact, difi'erent quantities of the same material in the two compartments of the charge car without having moved it from its first charge position. It is now to be transferred to the hoppers 10, 11 where the pro er, although diflerent quantities of materia from bin number 2 are weighed into the charge car compartments 24, 25 on the top of material previously obtained from the bin number 1. The car 23 is then moved'under weighing hoppers 12 and 13, and material from bin number 3 in the requisite quantities for each of the compartments is added thereto. The charge car -23 will then have its two compartments 24,

to make a charge of the proper proportions and these will exist in the said compartments in layers or Stratified formation.

The dumping operation for each compartment is performed by tripping the pawl 41 from the ratchet 40 when the chains are permitted to unwind from the shaft, dropping the bottom plates. While the compartments are filled, the bottom is retained closed by the pawl being in engagement and therefore locking the ratchet, therefore the chains 38, 39 in the closed position.

The car 23, as a unit, is now transferred on the tracks 15 to the. position shown in Fig. 3 over the furnace 17. The compartment 25 is now dumped by manipulating the lever 42 and pawl 41. The material falling therefrom is properly distributed within the furnace, a preponderance of the said material falling within the valley 21 of the charge surface. The car is then shifted so that compartment 24 will distribute its niaterial into the depression, or valley, 31.

The two charges will then have brought the surface level of the recharged furnace into the ultimate position shown by the dotted line 30. It will be understood that the inequalities of the surface line 20 will Vary from time to time making necessary the intelligent use 'by the charge car operator of the two compartments of the charge car.

Reference is herein made to my copending applications Serial No. 325,425, filed Sept. 22, 1919, and Serial No. 327,479 filed September 30, 1919.

I claim:

1. The method of charging a smeltin furnace which consists of dumping at different parts of a furnace a plurality of charges of mixtureof constituents, the quantity of each constituent in the complete charge being the same in any vertical line through the complete charge, and forcing air into the sides of the charge through twyers near the bottom of the furnace shaft and venting the gases above said twyers.

2. The method of charging a smelting furnace which consists of weighing from a pluralit of bins and through a plurality of weig iing hoppers a plurality of eon s tituents into a car, then transferring the mixture in said car on tracks over a reduction furnace and there dumping said mixture into said furnace and over an area less than the length of said furnace, and substantially equal to the width of said furnace.

3. The method of charging a smelting fu rnace which consists of weighing from a plurality of bins and through a plurality of weighing hoppers a plurality of constituents into a car, then transferring the mixture in said car on tracks over a reduction furnace and there dumping said mixture into said furnace and over an area less than the length of said furnace, and substantially equal to the width of said furnace, dumping to be located to equalize the smelting charge.

4. The method of charging a smelting furnace which consists of weighing from a plurality of bins and through a plurality of weighing hoppers-a plurality of constituents into a car, then transferring the mixture in said car on tracks over a reduction furnace and there dumping said mixture into said furnace and over an area less than the length of said furnace,,and substantially equal to the width of said furnace, and said dumping to be through a closable topopening, and thereafter closing said top open- 5. The method of charging a smelting furnace which consists of weighing from a plurality of bins and through a plurality of weighing hoppers a plurality of constituents into a car, then transferring the mixture in said car on tracks over a reduction furnace and there dumping said mixture into said furnace and over an area less than the length of said furnace, and substantially equal to the width of said furnace, and said dumping to be through a closable top opening, and thereafter closing said top opening, dumping to beso controlled as to equalize the smelting charge.

6. The method of charging a smelting fur- I nace during operation which consists of conveying to the top of said furnace a smelt-' able mixture, then uncovering the top opening of said furnace and dumping said mixture within said furnace above where the ducts communicating with said furnace through the walls below said top opening.

7. The process of charging an ore furnace consisting of adding to a furnace smelting charge of unequal homogeneity and surface contour a plurality of increments of mixture such that the sum of parts of each of the constituents that go to make up the charge in all vertical lines are substantially equal.

8. The method of chargin ore furnaces consisting of adding a plurality of mixtures to the smelting charge where the surface contour has become depressed by extra rapid reduction, so that any components of the mixtures added to the same components in the charge vertically therebelow are equal for that constituent throughout the furnace, as and for the purposes set forth.

9. The method of charging a furnace during the progress of smelting consisting of adding a plurality of small increments of mixtures through the top of said furnace to the smelting charge and at points of previous extra rapid smelting.

10. The method of charging a furnace during the progress of smelting consisting of adding a plurality of small increments of mixtures through the top of said furnace to the smelting charge and at oints of previous extra rapid smelting t rough a top opening substantially equal to the length of the said furnace and during which addition a door is slid to uncover the said top opening and thereafter closing said opening with said door.

11. The method of charging a furnace during the progress of smelting consisting of adding a plurality of small increments of mixtures through the top of said furnace to the smelting charge and at points of previous extra rapid smelting, said additions being from a plurality of conveying conipartments of a charge car.

In testimony whereof I-have hereunto set i 

